piece of evidence they say links the suspect to all four victims. really? really? really? really? really? see zero in a whole new way. get zero down, zero deposit, zero first month's payment, and zero due at signing on select volkswagen models. now with the people first warranty. we're alaska airlines. and we don't just fly lumberjacks to glaciers. we fly app developers to mexico city. novelists to nashville. and pilates instructors to palm springs. sure, we love a good glacier. but we also like a little cocoa butter. good evening. thank you for joining us. we begin with the new allegations that have once again toppled a titan. "today" show host matt lauer now fired as more women come forward with claims of inappropriate sexual behavior. tonight we'll hear from this nbc cohost now grappling with the disturbing accusations. and from powerful women who say that firings like these, while painful for some, are needed to bring about change. here's abc's linsey davis. >> matt lauer has been terminated from nbc news. >> reporter: this morning, a bombshell announcement about nbc "today" show coanchor matt lauer. >> as i'm sure you can imagine, we are devastated. we are still processing all of this. >> reporter: the anchorman who had been welcomed into america's living rooms for more than 20 years accused of sexual harassment, cut from the airwaves after one woman came forward with an allegation of sexual misconduct by lawer this is a very tough morning for both of us. >> reporter: late today an explosive article by "variety" describing alleged patterns of lewd behavior by lauer. according to "variety" he once gave a colleague a sex toy as a present that included an explicit note. another employee claims he summoned her to his office and dropped his pants and that he was known for making off-color comments verbally and over text messages. tonight "the new york times" reports two more women have come forward with allegations of misconduct by the legendary newsman. >> i'm heart broken for matt, i'm heartbroken for the brave colleague who came forward to tell her story, and any other women who have their own stories to tell. and we are grappling with a dilemma that's so many people have faced these past few weeks. how do you reconcile your love for someone with the revelation that they have behaved badly? and i don't know the answer to that. >> reporter: in a statement, nbc chairman andrew lack said, on monday night we received a detailed complaint from a colleague about inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace by matt lauer. it represented after serious review a clear violation of our company's standards. as a result, we've decided to terminate his employment. while it is the first complaint about his behavior in the over 20 years he's been at nbc news, we were also presented with reason to believe this may not have been an isolated incident. his co-workers, past and present today in a state of shock. >> i see the anguish on my colleagues' faces. but when this happens what we don't see is the pain on the face s of those who found the courage to come for pif ward. it as terrifying thing to do. >> this is hard for me to hear, i grew up with the "today" show. no one gets a pass, this behavior is never okay. i personally had such great experiences with matt. and he was someone that cle cheerleaded for me and supported me. >> reporter: ann curry, famously ousted from the "today" show, tells "people" magazine she's still processing. the battle lines are now clear, we need to move to revolution forward and make our workplaces safe. corporate america is quite clearly failing to do so. unless it does something to change that, we need to keep doing more ourselves. while so many are voicing support for the victims, others are offering compassion for lauer. >> i don't feel matt has betrayed us. i texted him did morning, said i adore you and no person is perfect in this world, nobody is, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of god is what scripture says. >> reporter: today in that "variety" article, three women coming forward as vehicletives of alleged sexual misconduct by lauer. >> very serious allegations and sensitive materials. >> reporter: elizabeth wagmeister is one of the writers of the report. >> when the harvey weinstein story broke, of course a number of names came out. and we just kept hearing, you've got to look into matt lauer. of course rumors have followed matt lauer for a years, there's a lot of tabloid reports about his behavior. but we heard that it was a bit deeper. >> reporter: the "variety" report states lauer's alleged misconduct was not a secret at "today." several women say their complaints to management about him fell on deaf ears. in response nbc said, we can say unequivocally prior to monday night, current nbc news management was never made aware of any complaints about matt lauer's conduct." as for the accuser who went to nbc news monday with her attorney -- >> welcome to "today" and to sochi, russia on a wednesday morning -- >> reporter: nbc says the alleged inappropriate behavior started at the 2014 olympics in sochi and continued for months after the games. the accuser's attorney said in a statement, my client and i met with representatives from nbc's human resources and legal departments at 6:00 p.m. on monday for an interview that lasted several hours. our impression at this point is that nbc acted quickly, as all companies should when confronted with credible allegations of sexual misconduct in the workplace. i am in awe of the courage my client showed to be the first to raise a complaint and to do so without making any demands, other than the company do the right thing." >> it's very difficult to come forward against a very rich, famous, powerful supervisor or someone at her place of employment who might have influence. >> reporter: powerhouse lawyer gloria allred has helped give voice to so many women who say they've been abused by other high-profile men. >> a host of a major television show and morning show has to maintain a certain image. if the host's brand as a squeaky-clean host is tarnished by his own conduct, he becomes a liability to the network. >> reporter: and tonight the tree lighting at rockefeller center went on without him. >> five, four, three, two, one -- ♪ joy to the world >> a large crowd gathered in rockefeller center for the lighting of the christmas tree. traditionally matt lauer is part of the event. he was scheduled to be once again this year. until his termination earlier today. lauer has been a staple of the nbc holiday season. >> good morning, everyone, happy thanksgiving. >> reporter: just last week hosting the annual macy's thanksgiving day parade. known for his travels around the world. >> where in the world is matt lauer? >> reporter: and his contentious interviews like this one with tom cruise back in 2005. >> aren't there examples where it works? >> matt, matt, matt. you don't even -- >> reporter: with the 2016 presidential candidates. >> they wonder about your temperament. >> a special monday morning for our friend matt lauer -- >> reporter: from that first "today" show episode over 20 years ago, lauer rose to stardom, later becoming one of the highest-paid television news anchors in history. >> this is the face of the "today" show. and he's gone. matt lauer is, in terms of a power list of major media figures, within the top five. within the top three. >> reporter: but now he joins a different list. media giants to fall from grace in a story now all too familiar. >> i look at that picture and i have a sickening feeling of deja vu. because we're dealing with our own situation. but it sends the message in shows, that you are not too big to fall. >> reporter: last week cbs this morning coanchor charlie rose was fired after multiple accusations of sexual misconduct. lauer joins the ranks of disgraced media giants. charlie rose, fox ceo roger ailes, bill o'reilly, harvey weinstein, and former msnbc contributor mark halperin, once the political director here at abc. >> growing controversy surrounding charlie rose -- >> reporter: little did he know his own reporting would seem like a self-fulfilling prophecy. >> you would probably the last guy in the world that they wanted to fire, because you were the guy that the ratings and the revenues were built on, you carried that network on your shoulders for a lot of years. so doesn't it seem safe to assume that the people at fox news were given a piece of information or given some evidence that simply made it impossible for you to stay on at fox news? >> that's a false assumption. there were a lot of other business things in play at that time. and still today. >> when matt lauer interviewed bill o'reilly about his sexual harassment history, there had to have been a lot of snickers and a lot of perhaps soul-searching among staff at that program. >> think about those five women and what they did. they came forward and filed complaints against the biggest star at the network they worked at. think of how intimidating that must have been, how nerve-racking that must have been. doesn't that tell you how strongly they felt about the way they were treated by you? >> reporter: the o'reilly accusations came as part of a tidal wave of change that began last year. >> growing claims against fox news chief roger ailes -- >> reporter: former fox news anchor gretchen carlson sued her former boss, the late roger ailes, and fox news, for sexual harassment in 2016. walking away with a $20 million settlement. >> after my story broke 16 months ago, and all these women started reaching out to me, i realized how pervasive the problem was. and it was really crossing every socioeconomic line and every profession from waitresses to wall street bankers to members of our military and everyone in between. >> hey, hey, ho, ho -- >> reporter: since then women from all walks of life have come forward with their own stories, marching together to end the silence, #metoo was born. but on capitol hill, change is not so swift. from al franken to john conyers to roy moore to the president himself, all accused of sexual misconduct, all still hanging on to power. this morning, president trump tweeted, wow, matt lauer was just fired from nbc for inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace, but when will the top executives at nbc and comcast be fired for putting out so much fake news. >> no politician has lost his job in this recent wave, despite very high-profile allegations. the biggest difference that is they don't really have bosses. congress reports to itself and sets its own rules to police itself is and is notoriously bad at doing so. >> reporter: consequences or not some have called the wave of public attention to sexual misconduct a reckoning. >> this power differential has now shifted. we are going to assert our power. we are empowered. and the fact that these people are famous but have hurt us, we're just not going to live in fear anymore. >> reporter: tonight, lauer remains silent, still offering no comment on the allegations. for "nightline," i'm linsey davis in new york. next, an arrest in the tampa serial killer case. the key piece of evidence police say links this man to four murders. an old woman who lived in a shoe. she had so many children she had to buy lots of groceries. while she was shopping for organic fruits and veggies, burglars broke into her shoe. they stole her kids' mountain bikes and tablets along with her new juice press. luckily the geico insurance agency had helped her with homeowners insurance. she got full replacement on the stolen goods and started a mountain bike juice delivery service. call geico and see how affordable homeowners insurance can be. call geico and roomba from irobot gets to work using two multi-surface brushes and power-lifting suction to grab and remove everything from fine dust to large debris. daily dirt doesn't stand a chance. you and roomba from irobot. better together. when you're close to the people you love, does psoriasis ever get in the way of a touching moment? 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really? really? see zero in a whole new way. get zero down, zero deposit, zero first month's payment, and zero due at signing on select volkswagen models. now with the people first warranty. for nearly two months the city of tampa has been on edge as police struggle to find clues in the string of murders that appear to be connected. for the series of grainy surveillance tapes, they appealed to the public for tips. but last night that strategy paid off. finally leading to an arrest. here's abc's victor oquendo. >> today the light shines. the darkness is over. this community begins the healing process. >> reporter: a sigh of relief in tampa today after an arrest was made in connection to four unsolved murders that have terrorized this community for nearly two months. >> for 51 days we had a neighborhood that was held hostage. >> reporter: benjamin mitchell, 22. monica hoffa, 32. 20-year-old anthony naiboa. 60-year-old ronald felton. all seemingly unconnected members of this community shot and killed in a series of murders that confounded authorities. yesterday, 24-year-old howell donaldson iii, a former st. john's university student, was brought in for questioning, picked up outside of this mcdonald's where he worked after police received a tip from a co-worker. >> he told my boss to hold his book bag for him. he said, don't go in the book bag, whatever you do. she went in the book bag, she found a gun. after finding the gun she called police. >> reporter: this gun police say was the missing link leading them to donaldson. >> that firearm was used in all four murders. as our investigation continued into the early hours of this morning, we were then able to gather the probable cause and charge howell donaldson with four counts of first-degree murder. >> reporter: police say donaldson admitted to owning the weapon which authorities say was bought legally, but has not confessed to the killings. >> he was cooperative. but he did not tell us why he was doing this. we were really hoping to find out what was driving him to do this. we don't have those answers yet. >> reporter: authorities also point to donaldson's cell phone records linking its location to the cell tower closest to three of the homicides. donaldson is set to make his first court appearance tomorrow morning. the string of murders has had this community on edge for weeks. >> can we talk about how strange this is for something like this to happen, how unnerving, how scary it is? >> it's the first time that anything this horrific has happened. >> i just bought it. now is the time. got to protect my family. >> never seen this many police officers, actually. it's unsetting but it's settling. >> reporter: the murders forced authorities to rely on tips from the community. >> soliciting tips is not a preferred choice of law enforcement. usually you're in a bind because you've run out of leads or the leads that you have have gone into a dead end. so you solicit whatever information you can get. >> reporter: chief david brown has been in this bind before. for six years he led the dallas police department. a unit that lost five cops last year when an armed gunman ambushed his officers. he knows all too well the importance and difficulty in gathering information from the community. >> tips are important, because they can corroborate evidence found at the crime scene. they can provide a missing link to a puzzle that you're trying to resolve. >> reporter: in this case, tampa law enforcement say they received more than 5,000. according to authorities, the killing spree began on october 9th. 22-year-old benjamin mitchell shot while waiting alone at a bus stop. four days later -- >> she didn't have a chance to get married. >> reporter: the body of 32-year-old monica hoffa found in an empty lot down the street around the corner from the scene where mitchell was killed. monica's uncle devastated. >> loved everything. her interest was community. and the deaf community. she loved everybody. >> reporter: their suffering rocked the community. >> we don't want monica to be forgotten. >> reporter: six days after hof hoffa's death, a third murder, 20-year-old anthony naiboa. >> it sounded really close. like five minutes after that, the paramedics came. >> reporter: he was a recent high school graduate who had autism. police say he was killed while on his way home from work. >> i can't imagine how difficult this is right now. >> reporter: his family heartbroken. >> whoever did this is, it's turned life upside down. >> it's a shame that i won't be able to see him no more, talk to him no more. >> reporter: a fourth victim, 60-year-old ronald felton, killed almost a although later while on his way to feed the homeless. >> i love him but he's still going to be in me, he's going to be in my heart. >> reporter: police point to the fact that each victim was gunned down within a half mile of each other. they say in each shooting the victim was alone but none were robbed. before yesterday's tip leading to donaldson's arrest one of the main leads authorities had were grainy surveillance videos of who they called a suspect. today community members and families of the victims welcome the arrest of the alleged killer. >> thank god we got this guy. we got this guy. >> reporter: embracing one another with cautious optimism that the dread of the past two months may finally be over. >> we call it a group hug. when everybody comes together, that's a group hug. that's when we all become one. and it was all just letting our spirits go together. >> reporter: for "nightline," i'm victor oquendo in tampa, florida. >> our thanks to victor. we'll be right back. ♪ it's red lobster's new ultimate surf & turf event. get ready these 5 pairings are gonna floor ya. like our new feast with lobster-wrapped scallops and a juicy sirloin, plus a savory lobster-and-shrimp smashed potato. and our new lobster and seafood-topped filet? 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